Sheila Majid

Biography

The youngest of a family of 8 children, Sheila Majid attended school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was married to Roslan Aziz, the producer of her previous albums, but has since divorced him. Sheila was remarried on June 3, 2003 to Hasridz Murshim Hashim Abdullah, better known as Acis, who was a keyboardist with one of the popular rock bands in the 80s, Gersang. Sheila has two children from her earlier marriage and two from her current marriage.

She started to learn the piano at the age of four. When she was 17, she sang at a friend's party and was spotted by a music producer, who invited her to do a demo. Sheila auditioned for Roslan Aziz and was given a contract in 1982. However, it took another three years before she released her first album in 1985 Dimensi Baru, which subsequently went gold. With Emosi, released one year later, Sheila won the Indonesian BASF Award for Best Female R&B Artist in 1987; an award that was never before won by a non-Indonesian. Her success in Indonesia was followed by a 1988 nationwide tour.

Sheila performed at the Tokyo Music Festival in 1989. She was invited back to perform in Japan that same year. At the same time, Sheila released her 1988 multi-platinum selling album Warna. She topped New Straits Times reader’s poll four consecutive years between 1987 to 1990.

Sheila embarked upon another project in 1990, fourth album Legenda which featured her fresh interpretation of several classics by the late P. Ramlee. She was awarded the Ahli Mangku Negara (AMN), a federal honour, by His Majesty the Yang DiPertuan Agong IX. To date, Legenda remains her best-selling album and was complemented by a nationwide tour, spanning over two years and culminating in a concert at Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur which drew a crowd of more than 10,000.[citation needed]

For her fifth original studio album, Ratu in 1996, she collaborated with some international musicians, like bassist Nathan East of American jazz group Four Play and Rex Goh of Air Supply fame on guitars, as well as Japanese violinist, Aska Kaneko. Sheila performed at a sold-out concert at London’s West End Royalty Theatre in March 1996.[citation needed] In December of the same year she accepted an invitation by Ronnie Scott's to take to the stage.

After the release of Sheila's sixth studio album, Ku Mohon in November 1999, she went on to win four awards, most notably Best Pop Album at the Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) 2000. The title track, one of her five compositions in the album and her first lyric creation was named Song of the Year.

In July 2000, Sheila became the first local artist to perform at the Dewan Filharmonic PETRONAS. The two night sold out concerts were held in conjunction with her fifteenth anniversary in the music industry.[citation needed] In November 2001, Sheila was invited to represent Malaysia in Jakarta DIVA SEA which brought together leading singers from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

In October 2003, Sheila was invited to headline a live concert by TransTV, Indonesia. This two hour special, entitled Konsert Perjalanan Seni Sheila Majid was a prelude to the release of her new album, Cinta Kita, her seventh studio effort. This album, helmed by Warner Music Indonesia saw Sheila collaborating with some of Indonesia's musicians like Andi Rianto, Tohpati and Indra Lesmana who collectively contributed towards 80% of the album production. To date, both the album as well as its first single, "Kerinduan" have reached number one in Indonesia.

In July 2006, Sheila staged a mini performance concert at Planet Hollywood Kuala Lumpur. It was a special performance to celebrate her 20th year in the music industry. Sheila branched out from her singing career and, together with her sister Datin Shahidah binti Abdul Majid, opened their own beauty spa in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur called Jentayu Spa in late 2002. Two years later, Sheila and Acis teamed up and embarked on their own rehearsal studio called Studio Akarkarya in Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya. Sheila resides with her mother Saadiah binti Adam in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur.[citation needed] Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.